6/16/2006

Apparently there are good reasons to sleep with your gun under your pillow

I have never known someone who has actually done this (it seems like you would find it quite uncomfortable sometimes, though may be he uses a really big pillow). Anyway, I am sure that Mr. Brown believes that sleeping with a gun under his pillow was well worth any discomfort.

Willie Brown shrugged off the noises downstairs early Thursday, but the 74-year-old was fully awake when he saw a man holding a knife in his bedroom doorway.

"He said, 'Don't move, I got a knife.' I said, 'You got a knife, huh?' He said, 'Yeah.'"

"I reached under my pillow and came up firing my .38 Smith and Wesson. He said, 'Oops' and turned and ran down the steps. I followed and shot him again," Brown said.

The suspect hopped out of the window he broke to enter Brown's house at 3912 Caseyville Ave. and ran across his yard, Brown said. East St. Louis Police did not identify the suspect, but said he was arrested Thursday as he was fleeing. . . .

"He appeared to be heading right into me," Williams said. "He hollered out that he'd been shot. I took off behind him with lights and my siren on. At 40th Street and Caseyville Avenue, Washington Park police officer Wendell Wilson blocked him in. I took his car keys," Williams said.

Williams said he saw blood on the back of the suspect's red and white shirt. There was a bullet hole in the man's back.

The suspect's condition was not immediately available and police would not say how many times he was shot. Brown said he thinks he hit him with at least two of the three rounds he fired.

East St. Louis Detective Ricky Perry, who is investigating the case, said police were called to Brown's home at 4:48 a.m. Brown's handgun was taken by police.

Although it's not likely Brown will be charged, Perry said he would present the case to the state's attorney's office and let them make a decision.

On Feb. 8, an 87-year-old woman on Gaty Avenue shot and killed Larry Tillman as he was breaking into her home. She had previously been beaten by an intruder, believed to have been Tillman , and was not charged in the shooting. . . .


Thanks very much to Guav for giving me a link to a story that did a better job of covering the story. I have changed it to the link that he gave me.

12 Comments:

Anonymous Guav said...

A much better link to the story:

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/local/14832301.htm

6/16/2006 3:57 PM  
Blogger John Lott said...

Thanks very much Guav. I changed the link.

6/16/2006 4:13 PM  
Anonymous thebronze said...

That's awesome!

Props to Mr. Brown for taking care of biz.

6/16/2006 5:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What good is a gun if you can't get to it easily?

At night, I keep a handgun concealed and within easy reach.

Robert Ferguson, Ph.D.
NRA Certified Instructor

6/16/2006 11:06 PM  
Blogger John Lott said...

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

6/16/2006 11:42 PM  
Blogger John Lott said...

Thanks, Robert. The question was just about putting it under your pillow. Aren't there are other places to put it, like in the drawer next to the bed? But if putting it under the pillow works for a lot of people (such as Brown), that is fine.

6/16/2006 11:43 PM  
Blogger saturdaynightspecial said...

Presently, because of the media and gun-banners, wherever you keep your weapon is stigmatized; even having a gun makes you some kind of nut. Gun-banners have a term for people who keep guns for protection: fortress mentality. But not having a fortress mentality can not only be dangerous but can allow for your worst nightmare - like when a family member is raped and brutally murdered while other members watch. Not having a firearm in your home is dangerous and foolish; and where you keep it should never be an issue to others, and should be a personal preference to be respected by others.

6/17/2006 1:23 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Having lived in Britain where handguns are now illegal, Stating self defence as good reason for wanting a gun will get you a visit from a swat team and where storage in locking steel cabinets is mandatory....

and if saving "just one life" is worth infinite expense,

I wonder how many lives have been lost because law abiding brits couldn't sleep with a pistol under the pillow?

6/17/2006 8:40 AM  
Anonymous Emilio said...

I got a CZ75 9mm Europellet under my pillow. In RSA, it's all I have and can get, so it stays close by. You are right, you do need a big pillow. A thick one too. Just make sure you place the gun in a holster under the pillow, otherwise the muzzle will get clogged with pillow fluff, lint and goose feathers. It also covers the trigger. For semi-autos, empty chamber should be the norm (condition 2 I believe???) Go easy on the gun cleaning fluids otherwise the smell of gun oil becomes a familiar thing at bedtime. Keep the gun in the same spot and pointed in the same direction each night so that you dont have to fumble for it in the dark.

6/18/2006 9:35 AM  
Blogger John Lott said...

Thanks, Emilo. Where is RSA? Is that South Africa?

6/18/2006 2:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm looking at property in Washington Park, Illinois... near to (and worse than) East St. Louis... If I purchase the property, I may never even see it, as it may be necessary to use firearms just to survive the trip. I have been through Washington Park before, and it just ain't civilized. I had to run a red light just to keep crackheads from rushing the vehicle... Lord knows it would be real nice if we didn't need guns in the real world... But good Gawwwwd... Have any of you ever been to Washington Park?????

6/19/2006 12:25 AM  
Blogger John Lott said...

Indeed, it would be nice if innocent people weren't threatened by crime. But simply wishing that criminals are no there won't make them go away.

6/19/2006 12:37 AM  

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